i want to thank you for joining us. good luck with the weather coming, everybody stay safe as well. "cnn newsroom" with carol costello begins right now. see everybody back here monday morning. let's get to the other show. happening now in "the newsroom," manhunt in the mountains. >> we don't know what he's going to do. we know what he's capable of doing. new twists in the search for an ex-cop accused of going on a murder spree in l.a., e-mailing a bullet-ridden disc to cnn. >> the suspect mailed a parcel to my office that arrived on the first of this month. blizzard warning from maine to maryland, a superstorm taking almost the same path as sandy about to batter the region with almost three feet of snow. this morning as millions try to escape the storm gas becoming in short supply. >> several stations up the road

are out of gas. >> i kind of wanted to get gas real quick before it runs out. also grammy weekend. ♪ they want to get my >> reporter: getting ready to hit the stage sunday. ♪ tonight we are young >> reporter: this year the power players of music springsteen, u2 pushed back stage, the younger groups going for grammy gold. "newsroom" starts now. good morning, thank you so much for being with us. i'm carol costello. potentially deadly blizzard taking aim for the northeast. it's expected to hit starting in a few hours, from new york to maine, we have team coverage of the storm, more than 3,200 flights already have been canceled. boston bracing for as much as three feet of snow by tomorrow

morning. meteorologist indra petersons is there, indra, boston schools are already closed, the subway set to shut down at 3:30 this afternoon. it sounds like the message is stay home? >> yeah, absolutely, that's exactly what the mayor asked everyone to do, as of noon this town is expected to be at a complete standstill. currently you can see generally mild considering what is expected to come. temperature about the freezing mark. we've started to see the winds picking up and a few snow flurries are starting to fall. we know by the afternoon today this could be an epic storm. we could break the record of 24 inches of snowfall in 24 hours. let's talk about how this is expected to form. there are two systems we've been talking about the last several days expected to merge, the first one, a little colder over in ohio valley, and the second one that yesterday was in atlanta, we saw severe weather of the thunderstorms that were building. now that made its way up the atlantic coast and right to the mid-atlantic. those two are going to merge and we're going to be looking at the

one large nor'easter, our coastal bomb as we call it, as expected by afternoon we'll be talking about between two to three inches of snowfall per hour. you add to that 50, 60, even 70 mile per hour wind gusts and visibility is expected to drop to zero, so that's what we're going to be monitoring. right behind me if you look outside we're going to be able to show you that we have the customs tower, that is less than a quarter of a mile away. with that, we're going to know as you track through the afternoon we'll see visibility near zero and keep tracking it for you and snowfall here could be as high as three feet and we'll be right here through it all to give you the latest. >> i don't know whether that's good or bad for you. indra petersons reporting live from boston this morning. now to new york city where wind gusts of 50 miles per hour could cut power to thousands. foot of snow and coastal flooding also predicted. this blizzard on the exact same path as superstorm sandy, that could mean more misery for

people still trying to recover from that storm. alison kosik is at columbus circle in manhattan. what is new york doing to prepare? >> reporter: right now we certainly are feeling a nice steady flow of snow coming down and not really sticking except for one or two snowballs we're making on the side here. you look out here, everybody's going to work as usual just like a normal bad weather day. everybody knows what's coming later and that's the tricky point. new york city mayor michael bloomberg is concerned about the cleanup because the storm is expected to really hit around rush hour when everybody's trying to get home, that could make it difficult for those salt spreaders and those plows to get through the streets but also extra trains are coming out for those who live on long island, the lirr is adding extra trains to get people home as fast as they can before the big part of the snowstorm hits. carol? >> do you have your flashlight and your toilet paper and your bread? >> reporter: oh, yeah, you know, speaking of long island, i live there and the gas lines are already there.

it's reminiscent of hurricane sandy because after hurricane sandy we all went to rationing gas because of everybody thought there was a gas shortage. you see that mini panic going on, even on long island. people waiting in line for gas. cars, 20 cars deep lines, which is pretty startling and pretty unnerving because everybody is sort of running around trying to prepare. i even went to the grocery store. i got the last apple on the shelf, carol. >> thank god for that! alison kosik reporting live from new york city. the big question on everyone's mind in the northeast, is who is going to get the worst of the storm. meteorologist jennifer delgado is at cnn with that side of the story. >> right now the calm before the storm, this is the time you really need to make sure you have everything prepared because conditions are going to go downhill especially as we go through late this afternoon into the evening hours. here's the radar. looking at what's happening now, snow moving into parts of northern new jersey including

newark as well into new york, into areas like hartford as well as into providence, they're picking up light snow there. by 3:00 in the afternoon, we're expecting this all to change over to snow for new york city. now, what we're talking about in some locations again, three feet of snow, so certainly new england is going to take the brunt of it. we're expecting roughly about 12 inches or more for new york city. when you combine the snow in with the winds, and some of these locations those winds are going to be gusting up to about 70 miles per hour. we're talking virtually a whiteout out there. you're not going to be able to see anything. the storm system moves out by saturday and then you can see the blizzard warning in place from newark all the way up towards maine. >> jennifer delgado -- >> a lot to talk about. >> you got that right, jennifer, many thanks. also this morning in california the manhunt intensifies and leads seem to fade. police say the possible sighting of christopher dorner near an

indian reservation in san diego county may have been a hoax. it leaves him on the loose and dangerous. authorities say he has declared war on police and the military trained sharpshooter already turned the hunters into the hunted. he say dorner gunned down three police officers in river side after killing an off-duty police officer and his fiance. the woman was also connected to the lapd, she was the daughter of retired officer just dayed earlier, dorner railed against his firing in a bizarre package he sent to cnn's anderson cooper. >> mailed a parcel to my office that arrived on the first of the month, my assistant opened it. inside he found this hand-labeled dvd accompanied by a yellow post-it note reading in part "i never lied" apparently in reference to his 2009 dismissal from the lapd. the dvd shows testimony by a man kicked by an lapd officer. according to dorner it confirms the story dorner told the lapd the story he says got him kicked

off the force. today is the eighth anniversary of his hiring. >> cnn's casey wian is outside a police station in hollywood, california, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, carol. police throughout southern california remain on high alert. you know, they are trying to both protect themselves as potential targets of christopher dorner, and also trying to find him. a possible break in the hunt for christopher dorner as authorities find his truck burning on a remote road in big bear lake, california. police fanned out, rifles drawn, as they searched nearby woods and go door to door. >> we'll keep working on it until we're able to locate the suspect or determine he's no longer in the big bear valley. >> reporter: dorner a former los angeles cop threatened to hurt l.a. police officers and their families, police say in retribution for being fired in 2008. he allegedly laid out his plan

in an online manifest toe saying "i never had the opportunity to have a family of my own. i'm terminating yours." dorner attempted to contact cnn sending a parcel to our anderson cooper. in it a hand labeled dvd with a yellow post-it note that reads "i never lied." an apparent reference to his firing when dorner claims he was forced out after reporting alleged police brutality. also a coin wrapped in duct tape which was inscribed with "thanks but no thanks will bratton" former chief of the los angeles police department. >> chances are he would have received it from me, it would have been the custom i have of when somebody was activated into the military, heading overseas. >> reporter: cnn is cooperating with authorities. police say it began sunday in irvine, when dorner killed two people, monica quan, the daughter of a former lapd captain who represented dorner in front of the police board that eventually fired him, and her fiance. three days later in san diego, police say dorner attempted to

hijack a boat and early thursday, dorner fires at police officers in corona who were assigned to protect someone connected to dorner's threats. one officer was hurt. later in riverside, two officers are fired upon in what police call a cowardly ambush. one seriously hurt the other killed. dorner's manifesto states the attacks will stop when the department states the truth about my innocence publicly. >> he's told us what he intends to do and so far he's done it. >> reporter: leaving the community on edge, wondering when the violence will stop. just to give you some sense of how seriously law enforcement is taking this, many police agencies have ordered their officers to travel in pairs until dorner is found, and here's some of the information we know about him. 33 years old, six feet tall, 270 pounds, also an expert with both a rifle and a pistol. he has been trained by both the los angeles police department and the u.s. military.

also said to be carrying night vision goggles. carol? >> casey wian reporting live from holhollywood, california. according to unpublished reports hackers accessed personal information about both former presidents. brianna keilar joins us with more. >> reporter: good morning, carol. i will tell you we only know certain information about this. let me tell you the secret service has confirmed that there is an investigation into these e-mails that were hacked and this includes e-mails from both bush presidents, from george h.w. bush and from george w. bush. you can imagine if this was you and your e-mails have been hacked and published online as they have in this case how violated you would feel and that's what the bush family is dealing with right now, we're talking about private photos that were in those e-mails, family topics that were discussed, contact information for bush friends and extended

family as well as scheduling matters that were discussed and obviously this is a serious breach but as we understand it, this is something where you're talking about e-mails not just in one particular incident or one small chunk of time but these are e-mails from 2009 to 2012 so over a considerable number of years. we don't know who is behind this and we're not sure if investigators at this point are sure who is behind this. on the part of the bush family, a spokesperson for george h.w. bush saying they do not comment on matters under criminal investigation but remember, carol, george h.w. bush was recently in the hospital, late last year he was in a houston area hospital and so some of this appears to have happened during the time that he was hospitalized and some of the e-mails discussed that. >> brianna keilar reporting live from the white house this morning. still ahead,

facebook-mageddon, the computer glitch that crippled the web. plus -- ♪ might be somebody up above two years ago the lead singer of alabama, alabama shakes was working at the postal service. now she's at the grammys. wait for it... wait for it... [ dog ] you know, i just don't think i should have to wait for it! who do you think i am, quicken loans? ♪

at quicken loans, we won't make you wait for it. our efficient, online system allows us to get you through your home loan process fast. which means you'll never have to beg for a quick closing. one more way quicken loans is engineered to amaze. bonkers, look at me when i'm talking to you.

15 minutes past the hour, time to check our top stories. inial mshl will attend funeral services for 15-year-old hadiya pendleton in chicago. the teenager was gunned down last week just days after she was in washington performing in the inaugural parade. the president called the family and offered his condolences. the northeast bracing for what could be an historic storm. airlines are canceling thousands of flight. two feet of snow in boston is predicted. >> just check and make sure nothing's broken to begin with, cutting edges on all the plows, snow blowers are ready. it will probably be a long four days, you know? which is tough on anybody.

>> storm expected to begin this afternoon and last well into tomorrow. senate democrats are working on a plan to avoid the deep automatic spending cuts set to kick in on march 1st. source close to the discussions says potential plans include reducing tax breaks enjoyed by private equity funds and closing loopholes for companies that keep profits overseas. a bug in facebook's widget took over yesterday. it redirects them to a facebook error page. the problem only affected users who were logged into the site and trying to visit other sites. facebook says it has fixed the problem. it could be the year of the dudes at the grammys where men are dominating some of the biggest categories. ♪ -- in the bathroom getting higher than the empire state ♪ ♪ my lover, she is waiting for me -- ♪ >> the band fun could walk away with the biggest awards of the

night. it would be a huge departure from last year when adele scored six awards. nischelle turner looks at what else we can expect. ♪ we are young >> reporter: "we are young" that could be the theme of the 55th annual grammy awards. >> it's been an incredible year in music, feels like alternative music is back. >> reporter: this year the spotlight isn't on veterans like springsteen or dillon, it's about fun and the black keys and jack white. ♪ yeah i would love to -- >> reporter: they're nominated for album of the year and all in their 20s or 30s. ♪ i will wait, i will wait for you ♪ >> reporter: in addition, mumford and sons, frank ocean and fun go into sunday's ceremony with six nods apiece. matching nominations earned by hip-hop heavyweights jay-z and kanye west.

♪ last week i was in my other biz ♪ ♪ all your diamonds up in this past year attention was focused on the breakout stars, most notably fun. the power pop trio from new york, and frank ocean, the new orleans r&b singer who shot to stardom with this emotional performance on "late night with jimmy fallon" where he sang about an unrequited love with another man. ♪ to be in love with someone who could never love you ♪ >> reporter: both ocean and fun are nominated for best new artist along with country multiinstrumentalist hunter hayes. >> here we are my first debut record. >> reporter: blues rock group alabama shakes. >> two years ago you were working at the postal service? >> yes, i was delivering postal mail. >> reporter: and folk rock trio the lumenieres. >> went from sleeping in friend's houses, going six people to a hotel room to now like grammy nominations.

♪ as long as i've got my suit and tie ♪ ♪ i'm gonna leave it all on the floor tonight ♪ >> reporter: look for justin timberla timberlake's first performance in four years, rihanna's first solo turn since she canceled in 2009, and collaboration with bruno mars, sting and rihanna. nischelle turner, cnn, los angeles. talk ban question for you today, should president obama speak out more about urban gun violence? facebook.com/carolcnn or tweet me @carolcnn. i'll be right back.

how are you doing today? >> reporter: dee anderson didn't think her extreme fatigue was a warning sign until a doctor told her. >> he said, dee, you're having a heart attack. >> reporter: like many, she'd been ignoring the signs. >> pressure, slight pressure in my chest that ran across the chest, not in one particular spot, no pain, no stabbing pain, nothing like that. >> take deep breaths. >> reporter: men and women don't typically have the same heart attack symptoms, often women don't realize they're having a heart attack because their symptoms can be much more subtle. >> women may have usual fatigue, nausea, vomiting, they may have abnormal feeling in the upper part of the body, stomach, back, arm or neck, or throat. >> reporter: two weeks after her first bout of chest tightness dee's symptoms got worse. >> it wasn't just a pressure

anymore or discomfort. it was an ache, like a bad toothache and suddenly i felt that same ache in my elbows, just in my elbows, in my chest and in my elbows and then i knew it was cardiac. >> reporter: dee called her doctor who told her to get to the e.r., saving her heart and her life. elizabeth cohen, cnn. [ woman ] if you have the audacity to believe your financial advisor should focus on your long-term goals, not their short-term agenda. [ male announcer ] join the nearly 7 million investors who think like you do. face time and think time make a difference. at edward jones, it's how we make sense of investing. officewith an online package new colincluding: domain name,y! face time and think time make a difference.

website builder with five pages and basic email just $49.99! that's up to 76 percent below online providers and only at officemax stores! to find you a great deal, even if it's not with us. [ ding ] oh, that's helpful! well, our company does that, too. actually, we invented that. it's like a sauna in here. helping you save, even if it's not with us -- now, that's progressive! call or click today. no mas pantalones!

now is your chance to talk back on one of the big stories of the day, the question for you this morning, should president obama speak out more on urban gun violence? first lady michelle obama will be in chicago this weekend, no speeches, only sadness, saturday 15-year-old hadiyah pendleton will be buried, the honor student who twirled a baton in president obama's inauguration was killed last week. thiscy child who fought against gun violence. >> this commercial is informational for you and your future children. so many children out there are in gangs and it's your job to say no to gangs and yes to a great future. >> pendleton's murder happened one mile from obama's chicago home, a startling example of gun violence in urban america. jesse jackson who led an anti-gun march in chicago begged the president to visit his

hometown and address real gun violence. >> given the preponderance of killing and the explosive of this, we need federal intervention. you might remember president obama came to newtown and tucson after the mass shootings there and more than one critic has pointed out as tragic as these shootings are, they're rare. most gun crimes are not committed with high-powered semiassault rifles but with handguns. before newtown the president was asked about the silent epidemic of urban gun violence. >> we've got to have an all of the above approach. we have to enforce our gun laws more effectively. we've got to keep them out of the hands of criminals. we've got to strengthen background checks. i live on the south side of chicago, you know, some of these murders are happening just a few blocks from where i live, and i have friends whose family members have been killed. >> still, why send mrs. obama to

chicago? why, mr. president, don't you go yourself? talk back question should president obama speak out more on urban gun violence? fa facebook.com/carolcnn or tweet me @carolcnn. [ woman ] ring. ring. progresso.

your soups are so awesomely delicious my husband and i can't stop eating 'em! what's...that... on your head? can curlers! tomato basil, potato with bacon... we've got a lot of empty cans. [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup.

good morning, thank you so much for joining us. i'm carol costello. stories we're watching right now in "the newsroom" 30 minutes past the hour. the opening bell getting ready to ring on wall street. last night the dow, s&p and nasdaq all closed lower. one place you won't find the new blackberry 10, japan. company spokeswoman says the country isn't a major market for the device. researcher firm says blackberry

carri carries 0.2% of the market in japan. the northeast starting to feel the effects of a potentially historic blizzard. meteorologist indra petersons is in boston. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, in the last few minutes we're starting to get some flurries headed our way. the temperature is not changing too much but the winds are picking up. it is getting colder. we know this is nothing like what we're expecting as we go through the late afternoon. we're watching two systems merging into one, yesterday we saw some heavy showers around atlanta, that's the warm, moist system that's made its way up to the mid-atlantic, that is going to be merging with the cold arctic air that made its way down from canada and brought some snow through the great lakes and is over the ohio valley. when those two come together we get the big coastal bomber the nor'easter expected to bring the heavy snowfall rates, talking two to three inches of snow per hour, wind gusts 50, 60, even 70 miles per hour are not out of

the question. visibility could drop to zero and late afternoon through the overnight hours we'll start to see some heavier bands. the heaviest bands are expected about 9:00 p.m. through tomorrow morning and we'll see it taper off toward saturday afternoon but don't forget the winds will be here. the snowdrift could be going over my head. >> indra petersons, thanks so much. political buzz is your rapidfire look at the best political topics of the day, three topics, 30 seconds on the clock, playing with us democratic strategy maria cardona and alice stewart, a republican strategist the former spokesperson for rick santorum. welcome to both of but >> thank you, carol. >> good morning, carol, good to be here. >> good morning, question one on the tortured subject of targeted killings i'd like to direct your attention to former new york city mayor and presidential candidate rudy giuliani. >> for the life of me i can't

figure outgeorge bush got so much heat for waterboarding three people and president obama has killed scores of people. from the point of view as a terrorist would you rather be watter boarded or killed? >> the obama administration under fire for using drones to kill american terrorists overseas. giuliani's point and our question, would it be better to capture terrorists than kill them? alice? >> absolutely. we've received scores of information from the three people that enhance interrogation techniques were used in the bush administration. we did receive actionable intelligence that led us to the capture of bin laden. panetta said so. the hypocrisy the democrats have lambasted that but obama killed scores of people with these drones. these are fine if they're used for actual surveillance and receiving good information, but they should not be used for just random fishing expeditions. >> maria? >> you know, carol, in an ideal

world, of course, it would be better to do that and that way i think the justice system would be carried out as we all believe that it should but at the same time we're not living in an ideal world and we're not living and we're not executing a war that is a kind of war that we have executed in years past where it's country against country. these are terrorists who are living under rocks, in caves, in mali and in yellemen. if there is a target and we know where he is and send a drone in and we know that person has killed americans, a lot of americans believe that is the way we should go. >> question number two, for republicans it seems like out with the old and in with the new. fox news parting ways with some of its more partisan contributors, sarah palin and dick morrison gone while karl rove starts a new super pack designed to make sure more established candidates make it to the ballot box. in the mean while, rnc chairman reince priebus held a listening

session with black leaders in atlanta. you see him in the little chair there? this is part of the group's new outreach to minorities, but rush limbaugh still looms large. he's called marco rubio meeting with the talk show host, went on the show to sell his new immigration plan. can you reinvent yourself and cowtow to rush limbaugh? >> not if you want to reinvent yourself credibly. this is something that republicans need to understand. they need to get rid of the idea that rush limbaugh is a real political leader. he's an entertainer and he's even said that himself and as long as republicans believe that he's a real political leader, their makeover is going to be just very superficial and it's not going to work. it's like they've been punk'd for the last four years. i'm expecting ashton kutcher to come out and say gop, you've been punk'd. you need to treat him as an entertainer. >> alice?

>> well, every candidate for the most part will go down to south florida and kiss the rush ring, that's just what you do. the fact of the matter is the party is still the party of limited government, of fiscal responsibility, individual freedoms and strong national security. we'll continue to convey that and reince priebus did the right thing having a listening session with african americans. we'll do the same with latinos and the same thing with women and young people, we'll listen in and loop them in because we learned a lot in this last session in this last election and we're certainly going to make some positive changes heading into the midterms. >> all right, on to question three, democrats bring out the big guns today, bill clinton and stephen colbert, both will rally house democrats at their annual retreat. hold on, you say, colbert? isn't his sister running for congress in south carolina? >> no free air time, lulu. as a broadcast journalist i am obligated to maintain pure objectivity. it doesn't matter that my sister

is intelligent, hard-working, compassionate and dedicated to the people of south carolina. i will not be mentioning any of that on my show. >> okay, but back to the retreat. stephen colbert rallying the democrats, he'll take questions from minority leader nancy pelosi. what advice will colbert, a comedian, mind you, give democrats? alice? >> well, i'm a big colbert fan but i'm afraid even a colbert bump is not going to help his sister in that district. it's certainly going to go to a republican. i would imagine as a comedian he'll probably look at the group and encourage them, i understand there was a bipartisan reach-out by former governor sanford in an excursion to hike the appalachian trail. i would imagine he'd encourage some of the democrats including bill clinton to bypass on that. >> maria? >> if he goes in character, carol, he will beg the democrats to change their party name to

republican in order to confuse voters, but if he's serious about giving them advice he would just say look democrats, don't do anything, don't say anything. the republicans are doing a great job of sinking themselves. >> oh, ouch! on that note we head to our political buzz. >> ouch. >> maria and alice, thanks so much for playing today. >> have a great weekend. >> you too. the mt. washington observatory in new hampshire already known as home to the world's worst weather a monster blizzard is bearing down, we'll take you there to see conditions there. vator bell dings ] i hate mondays. yeah, they're the worst. [ caribbean accent ] no worries, mon. every-ting will be alright. [ chuckles ] yeah, mon. come on! don't fret, me brotha. sticky bun come soon. ♪ yeah, wicked coffee, mista jim! julia, turn da frown de other way around! hey, dave, you're from minnesota, right?

yes, i! da land of ten thousand lakes. the gopher state! so in conclusion, things are pretty dismal... you know what this room needs? a smile. who want to come with i? [ jimmy cliff's "c'mon, get happy" plays ] ♪ you guys are three minutes late. [ caribbean accent ] don't be no cloud on a sunny day! [ caribbean accent ] yeah, chill, winston. sir? respect boss man! [ laughter ] [ male announcer ] that's the power of german engineering. schwab bank was built with all the value and convenience tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 investors want. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 like no atm fees, worldwide. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 and no nuisance fees. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 plus deposit checks with mobile deposit. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 and manage your cash and investments tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 with schwab's mobile app. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 no wonder schwab bank has grown to over 70 billion in assets. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 so if you're looking for a bank that's in your corner, tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 not just on the corner... tdd#: 1-800-345-2550

call, click or visit to start banking with schwab bank today. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550

will it be one for the record books? let's head back to new york city where wind gusts of 50 miles per hour could cut power to thousands of people. foot of snow and coastal flooding are also predicted. . blizzard is on exactly the same path as superstorm sandy and

that could mean a lot more misery for people still trying to recover. alison kosik is at columbus circle in the middle of manhattan. ooh, already looks nasty there. >> here it goes, it is getting nasty, rain/snow mix happening here. i'm watching somebody salt the sidewalk here, back and forth. hey. he's singing at least. at least he's happy about the snow coming. compute commuters going about their day as usual but they know come rush hour coming home that is really when the brunt of the storm is going to hit and that's what's tricky. new york city mayor michael bloomberg says it's tricky to plow the streets because the streets will be busy, extra mass transit is being added, extra trains being added, to get people out of the city as much as possible before the brunt of the storm hits during rush hour around 4:00, 5:00 and 6:00 p.m. today. >>. >> mayor bloomberg issue a warning for people to stay off the streets and in their homes and what time does that start? >> reporter: he is telling people to use common sense.

if you don't have to go out don't because it is going to start to get bad. who could forget 2010 when the city was hit by the monster storm, 20 inches at least hit this area, and the city got a lot of flack for not responding in the right way, a lot of ambulances couldn't get through because the streets weren't plowed, not enough public notice was given. the mayor admitted the city fell short in its response, that's why you see mayor bloomberg come out yesterday and try to get ahead of this storm saying we have hundreds of salt trucks ready to go, hundreds of plows at the ready when this storm really hits. >> alison kosik reporting live from new york city this morning. two former presidents hacked. we have details on the security breach that sparked a secret service investigation. [ woman ] my boyfriend and i were going on vacation,

so i used my citi thankyou card to pick up some accessories. a new belt. some nylons. and what girl wouldn't need new shoes? and with all the points i've been earning, i was able to get us a flight to our favorite climbing spot even on a holiday weekend. ♪ things are definitely looking up. [ male announcer ] with no blackout dates, you can use your citi thankyou points to travel whenever you want. visit citi.com/thankyoucards to apply.

try our entrees, snacks and new salads. wild salmon with basil, garlic chicken spring rolls, and now salads, like asian-style chicken. enjoy 100 delicious varieties under 400 calories. lean cuisine. enjoy 100 delicious varieties under 400 calories. did you just turn your ringer off so no one would interrupt and.us?one. oh no, i... just used my geico app to get a tow truck. it's gonna be 30 minutes. oh, so that means that we won't be stuck up here, for hours, with nothing to do. oh i get it, you wanna pass the time, huh. (holds up phone) fruit ninja!!! emergency roadside assistance. just a click away with the geico mobile app.

46 minutes past the hour. los angeles police are on the hunt for ex-cop christopher dorner. dorner is accused of killing three people including one police officer and the daughter of another. the search is focused on a resort area near big bear after a burned out pickup truck belonging to the suspect was found on a road in the area. police believe other tips he received in san diego were likely a hoax. senator democrats are working oen a plan to avoid deep automatic spending cuts. special plans include reducing

tax breaks enjoyed by private equity funds and closing loopholes that keep profits overseas. the first laidy will attend the slain teen's funeral in chicago. a spokesman for former president george h.w. bush adds a criminal investigation is under way, the unidentified hacker accessed e-mails, photos and personal information about both former presidents. the snow is starting to fall in new york city as the northeast braces for a massive storm, airlines have already canceled thousands of flights and meteorologists are predicting as much as two feet of snow in cities like boston, in towns like milton, massachusetts, public works

departments are preparing for the worst. >> checking sure nothing is broken, cutting the edges on the plow, snow blowers are ready. it will be a long four days which is tough on anybody. >> four days. jennifer delgado is he right? >> we are looking at potentially an historic storm. when you combine winds in some locations hurricane strength winds with three feet of snow, potentially problems across parts of new england and well as the northeast. we look at the radar, notice for yourself still some rain out there but a lot of that changing over to snow for parts of northern new jersey, including newark and into new york city, providence, as well as into hartford and snow through boston, in fact we have a live shot coming in to us and look at this live shot here, well, you're looking at fenway park and we're starting to see that snow coming down, even in the very bottom of the park you can start to see the snow is starting to blow in a little bit. i take you toward a graphic, a lot of people want to know how

the day is going to play out. we'll track this for you. we're watching two storms that will come together. once they do, this will create that weather bomb producing all that snow especially arriving late tonight into the overnight hours but for 10:00 a.m. you can see where the snow is lining up right now, verifying with our forecast and then as we go to 4:00, all snow for new york city, more snow for boston, and then those winds pick up in the evening, and then we're going to start to see those blizzard conditions rolling through so that's why officials are telling you do not get on the roadway. eventually by tomorrow we will see that storm system pulling away. carol, we'll send it back over to you and talk windchill values as well, minus 15 in some of these locations. brrr. >> i know. talking about windchills, new hampshire's mt. washington observatory is bracing for a whiteout this morning, the self-described home of the world's worst weather. the winter storm now brewing in the northeast could deliver windchills of 25 degrees below zero. i'm joined from north conway,

new hampshire, by weather observer brian fitzgerald. good morning, brip aan. >> good morning. >> the fact that a big huge storm is brewing, does that excite you? >> it certainly does. certainly i'll be honest, this isn't that out of the norm for us. we'll be seeing wind gusts by tomorrow evening around 100 miles an hour, which is actually a pretty typical situation for the wintertime up here. >> typical. so give us a few tips because a lot of people in the northeast will be trying to survive over the next couple of days. >> i would say stay put, hang out. make sure you're well prepped at home. certainly with the winds we're going to see, certainly you'll want to be ready for any sort of power outage. >> so two storms, two weather systems are going to collide. we heard jennifer talk a little bit about that. tell us how dangerous this is when this sort of thing happens. >> when this thing comes along,

certainly there's a ton of accumulation. luckily this is light powdery stufful we're just talking snow, not a lot of ice. in this situation when you get a lot of snow, very heavy stuff, it can weigh on power lines and rooftops. and this is certainly the most we've seen in a long time. hopefully folks are remembering how to drive in winter conditions and also the fact that you should stay off the road this evening. >> good advice. brian fitzgerald at the mt. washington observatorobservator >> thousands of flights are already canceled. ♪

good morning, turtle. ♪ my friends are all around me ♪ my friends, they do surround me ♪ ♪ i hope this never ends ♪ and we'll be the best of friends ♪ ♪ all set? all set. [ male announcer ] introducing the reimagined 2013 chevrolet traverse, with spacious seating for up to eight. imagine that.

mystery solved. we now know what caused the super bowl outage. apparently it was an electrical relay device. say what? john zarrella is in new orleans to explain. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, carol. that's right. the electric utility here announced just a short time ago that they believe they have isolated the problem to a relay you we heard a lot about the vault. inside the vault was switch gear that basically controls the power that goes into the stadium tr the feeder lines coming into that fault. well, the relay is considered the heart and soul, the rabrain of that switch box and according to a statement this morning,

that relay opened up, basically opening the circuit, instead of staying closed, which then shut the power to half of the stadium. this somes just as the city council's energy committee is about in less than five minutes now to hold an emergency hearing on what caused the outage. well apparently now we know it was a relay device, newly installed to protect cables, literally to protect the equipment in case there was a cable failure. it had been installed back in december is what we understand. carol? >> i'm just laughing that there's an emergency meeting scheduled now for something that happened sunday. >> yeah. >> well, at least mystery solved. >> yeah, it struck us odd a few days back as well. >> john zarrella reporting live from northerly. >> sure. >> this is weather. the weather already causing travel problems is what i'm trying to say. as we told you, thousands of flights already canceled. zain asher is at laguardia

airport in queens. tell us about the misery. >> reporter: hi, carol. we've been here since 3:30 this morning. when we got here it was relatively calm. but now you are seeing more and more passengers desperately trying to board their flights before the storm hits. i just actually popped over to the board over there looking and seeing the number of cancellations have actually increased. looking at the board right now i can see a number of cancellations. the board says canceled, canceled, canceled for all flights after 2:00. and just to give you an idea as to how many flights are canceled, 3,200 flights initially. now the number increased to 3,300 flights. i also want to pull up the flight tracker right now so you can see what's going on in the skies. the blue dots represents the number of planes in the sky right now. so pretty much there is activity. that will change as the storm draws closer. anyone with travel plans today, especially if you're leaving after 1:00, please, please check

with your airlines. we don't want to be stuck at the airport. and just to give you an idea of what people are saying. one person said hefsz was on t phone with american airlines for over an hour and a half trying to get his flight rescheduled, on hold. and one couple saying they drove here through the night just in time to make another flight. there is pretty much chaos here in terms of transportation. >> i feel for folks. i really do. it's just tyke to find an igloo somewhere, right? zain, thanks so much. [ woman ] ring. ring. progresso.

i just served my mother-in-law your chicken noodle soup but she loved it so much... i told her it was homemade. everyone tells a little white lie now and then. but now she wants my recipe

[ clears his throat ] [ softly ] she's right behind me isn't she? [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup. let's see what you got. rv -- covered. why would you pay for a hotel? i never do. motorcycles -- check. atv. i ride those. do you? no. boat. house. hello, dear. hello. hello. oh! check it -- [ loud r&b on car radio ] i'm going on break! the more you bundle, the more you save. now, that's progressive.

good morning. thank you so much for joining us. you're about to look live at new york and boston. both cities bracing for a winter storm and some places flurries have begun. more than 3,200 flights have been canceled. residents across the region being told to stay home. we have live team coverage of the snow, the strong winds and the threat of flooding and the impact on air travel. let's bring in meteorologist jennifer delgado. this storm is expected to be huge. tell us how huge. >> we're talking parts of the northeast as well as new

england. they're all going to be affected by the storm system, and the storm that we're watching is two parts. right now affecting parts of the midatlantic and another one coming in off the great lakes. now we're going to see a lot of precipitation changing to snow. right now we're seeing snow in new york city, boston, hartford and it's only going to get heavier. by the time we hit 4:00. that snow is going to turn to snow. you can kind of see for yourself starting to get heavier in boston. in the evening hours as well as to the overnight it turns to all snow. the winds start to pick up. you can see how the isobars are getting tighter. and that means with the snow blowing around, visibility will be down to zero. they're telling officials don't go on the roadways. as we move through saturday by the evening hours the low will finally pull away, but before it pulls away, we're talking three feet of snow in some of these

parts, anywhere in purple. that's where we'll see the heavy snowfall. we expect boston, well, i would say it's going to be the hot spot. it looks like the cooler of the snow spot. we talk about the winds, carol and how it's going to affect the temperatures. when you have the winds around we're talking some of those hurricane strength at times. look at the windchill factor. a couple of weeks ago it got really cold. by 6:00 a.m. it's going to feel like 14 in newark. for boston, minus seven. for portland, areas up to the north, almost minus 20 is what it will feel like. it will stay that way through saturday because the winds are not going to subside, and that means we're still looking at travel delays. and three feet of snow, i'm just bad news, aren't i, over here? >> you are. go away. no, come back. >> i'll let you talk to somebody else now. >> in boston the schools are

already closed. subway is set to shut down at 3:30 this afternoon. cnn reporter in boston. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. things are picking up here a little bit. we're seeing gusts 30, 35 miles per hour. temperature is not dropping too much, and we're also seeing the flurries, as you can tell. it feels like things has gotten worse, but this is not like we're expecting through the overnight hours tonight. kind of a mild winter so far asking them do they think the city is prepared. they said, yeah, we do think the city is prepare. let's hear what the mayor menino had to say. >> right behind me you see several departments that are going to be called onto deal with the emergency. but also remind everyone to use common sense. stay off the streets of our city. basically stay home. >> the city is prepared.

they have 4,500 units of mach e machinery ready to clear the street. they have a thousand national guard ready to go. they have another 5,000 on standby. everyone feels confident that things will resume back to normal by the time monday comes around. overnight tonight into tomorrow is expected to be the heavier band. vizability is expected to drop to zero. one thing we've been doing throughout the day is tracking the visibility. the customs tower behind me is less than a quarter mile away. whether or not visibility drops below quarter of a mile. we can still see it. we'll keep tracking it for you and people are helistening to t mayor. they're staying home. the schools are closed. by noon we're going to see cars off the street. by 3:00 p.m. public transportation will close as well. that's the fifth largest public transportation in the united

states. so yes, it's going to be a quiet weekend as long as we hunker down and ride the storm out. >> it's interesting that people are listening. i suppose boston is used to this sort of thing. all the people i talk to are very confident that the city is prepared. they have seen storms like this before. the fact that the timing is on the week. they feel confident they're going to hunker down. even though the system moves out by late saturday, the winds are still going to be kicking up. so we could still see the snow blowing overhead. visibility will still be poor. so planes will come in sunday, but only to get ready for transportation on monday. >> let's head to new york city now where flurries have also begun. the blizzards on the same path as superstorm sandy and some residents are back in survival mode, including our own alison kosik. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, and very comfortable rain/snow mix

continues to fall. i'm watching somebody salt the sidewalk. he's finding it hard to keep up because it's coming down at a good pace and new york city is trying to get ahead of it. already saying that it has 250,000 tons of salt available. the sanitation workers will be going on 12-hour split shuts. the bulk of the storm is going to hit tonight. bad news is some of it is really going to hit during rush hour. new york city mayor michael bloomberg is concerned about getting the plows through the streets. a lot of traffic when people are trying to get home. a lot of it is happening over the weekend so the workers can try to clear those streets. they have a lot of streets to plow, carol. 6,000 miles. can you believe it? >> wow. residents still suffering from superstorm sandy. some of them are still without power. how are they doing this morning? i can't imagine that? >> obviously it's a one-two punch. very tough situation. it was only the end of october.

here we are in the beginning of february. it's so fresh and new. you know how fresh and new it is? people react when they hear an epic storm like a blizzard. on long island i saw gas lines, 20 cars deep waiting for gas in the middle of the street. these lines were forming. people are afraid they wouldn't be able to get gas, just like what happened after hurricane sandy when there wasn't -- it didn't seem like there was enough supply. so you're seeing people kind of react that way. of course, they're running to gauchery stores, taking everything they can off the shelves. i got the last apple, as i told you, off the fruit aisle. so people are trying to do their best. definitely seeing people react because of what happened with hurricane sandy. >> across the city in queens this nasty weather is causing all kinds of travel delays at laguardia. cnn's zain asher is there. tell us more. >> reporter: carol, it is

absolutely crazy here. i'm just going to step aside so you can possibly see behind me there is a departure board right there, and there are a lot of signs in yellow. that means canceled flights. you see a whole list of flights being canceled. a lot of flights after 2:00 being canceled here. and those arriving after 2:00 also canceled. in total, 3,300 flights canceled. my prediction is pretty much in the next few hours this airport, this departure land will be empty. bottom line is anyone with travel plans today, especially if you're leaving roughly around 1:00 through tomorrow just make sure you call your airline to make sure you know what the situation is. and just to give you an idea of how bad laguardia alone will be impacted on any given day about 1,000 flights take off and land from laguardia airport. when this snowstorm comes and goes it's going to be mayhem here at laguardia. and in terms of when flights resume back to normal, we have no clue. it's up to the individual carrier.

you have to check with your airline for that as well. >> so if you have a plane taking off after 1:00 this afternoon, call the airline. what about train travel? >> i mean train travel, it's difficult as well. amtrak just said that basically all their trains leaving penn station after 1:00 will be headed north. it's bad news all the way around, carol. >> stay with cnn for continuous coverage of this storm. we'll keep checking in with our reporters on the field and get the latest from the cnn weather center on how much snow you're expected to get throughout the weekend and throughout the day. now to other stories making headline ls. this morning in california the manhunt intensifies and the leads seem to fade. police say the possible sighting of accused killer christopher dorner, they think it was a hoax. they leaves the fired los angeles cop on the loose and extremely dangerous. he has declared war on the

police and the military trained sharp shooter has already turned the hunters into the hunted. police officials say dorner gunned down three police officers in riverside, california, after killing an offduty police officer and his fiance. the woman was also a daughter of a retired officer. days earlier dorner sent a bizarre package to anderson cooper. >> mailed a parcel that arrived on the first of the month. inside he found this hand labeled dvd accompanied by a yellow post-it know reading in part, quote, i never lie elied. the dvd shows testimony by a man saying he was kicked by an lapd officer. according to dorner, it confirms the story that he says got him kicked off the force. today by the way is the eighth anniversary of his hiring.

>> casey wian is outside of a police station in california. any new leads at all, casey? >> reporter: well, there are a few, carol. and part of the intensity of this man hunt is made more difficult by the fact that police are trying to cover a very large geographic area. you mentioned those three separate shooting incidents. they started on sunday in irvine, california, in orange county. there was another shooting in corona. another shooting in riverside c r, california. maybe 60 miles or so to the east of where the first incident happened. but this suspected killer, christopher dorner has been leaving tracks basically from near the mexican border to the mountains north of los angeles. one of the first clues that investigators found was he attempted apparently to capture or take a boat in the community of point loma, california, near san diego.

now on thursday a briefcase linked to dorner and his former lapd badge was found in san diego. and of course, in big bear, the mountain community north of here, his burning truck was found just yesterday. police officers say that perhaps it could have been a diversion tactic because they've been searching that big bear area all night long. and so far have been unable to find him. one other thing i want to mention is some of the tactics that the lapd is taking to make sure their officers stay safe. they and other police agencies are required now that officers travel in their police cruisers in pairs so they have some protection there. also we've been outside this police station all nigh long and we have seen several precautionary security measures that have been employed. i'm not not going to talk about those on air because i don't want to compromise them. but rest assured, police are taking this very, very seriously

and are prepared, carol. >> what does he want? i mean, why is he doing this? >> well, he says in that manifesto, he talks about wanting his name to be restored. his good name. he was fired from the lapd and he disputes the circumstances of the firing. he also talks about reforms that are needed about the lapd. i'm no psychologist, but it sure seems the main things he wants at this point is attention. >> casey wian reporting from hollywood, california, this morning. we now know what happened with the super bowl. officemax is celebrating our new collaboration with go daddy! with an online package including: domain name, website builder with five pages and basic email just $49.99! that's up to 76 percent below online providers and only at officemax stores!

we don't let frequent heartburn come between us and what we love. so if you're one of them people who gets heartburn and then treats day after day... block the acid with prilosec otc and don't get heartburn in the first place! [ male announcer ] one pill each morning. 24 hours. zero heartburn.

heyyy, you're going out like that? yeah, why? well, what would the neighbors think? i see you! c'mon, get mister feather!

look what i have. mister bird. remember? quack quack quack! we're just playing! we're just playing! i'm trying to get you out of there! even still... announcer: you don't have to be perfect to be a perfect parent. there are thousands of teens in foster care who don't need perfection, they need you. oh, let's head outside for just a second now. it's snowing already in new york city. they're expecting, oh, maybe 30 inches or so. boston is going to get it a lot worse. the shot on the far side of the screen is from a ski resort. they're hoping for a lot of snow this morning. and in the coming weekend

because snow conditions have been really poor this season. in fact, the slopes are icy, so they're excited in maine. at least someone is happy about the storm. we want to check the other top stories. the secret service investigating the hacking of bush family e-mails. the unidentified hackers accessed e-mails, photos and personal information from both former presidents' accounts. nasa scientists say a giant asteroid about the size of a football field will pass close to the earth by friday. fortunately for us that's a relative term. it shouldn't get any closer than 17,000 miles. the probability of it hitting the earth is really, really low. the company that provides power to the superdome is explaining what caused sunday night's super bowl blackout. cnn's john zarrella is in new orleans with the answer. hi, john. >> reporter: hi, carol.

charles rice is the first one up at the hearing of the utility committee. some of the thunder was already stolen because before he testified, entergy, the utility company that he is the owner of issued a statement saying they found the source of the problem. rice reiterated that a minute ago during his testimony. they say they have isolated the problem to a relay. all during the course of the week we've heard a lot about what's called the vault. inside the box is what's called switch gear that controls the flow of lek tris tri from the main feeder lines to the switch gear and then out to the superdoisupe super dome. this relay tripped off opened for whatever reason, and that is what cut the power to one-half of the superdome during the third quarter of the super bowl game. the equipment has been removed. they're evaluating bringing in new equipment now, going to test out the new equipment. one of the things they did say

of course is this piece of equipment that was in there, and actually it's new. it's only been in there six to eight weeks. it worked final during the sugar bowl game, during the new orleans game. it worked fine just before that, but now it's failed. they are again, as i said, going to evaluate this piece of equipment, and they had also said both entergy and amt that they are going to bring in a third party to analyze the problem. now they have to go back and look at that. it may no longer be necessary because they are sure that the problem is with this relay. >> got it. john zarrella, live from new orleans this morning. we're going to talk a lot more about the weather and the big blizzard to come. we'll be back. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 is your old 401k just hanging around?

tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 consider if rolling it over to a schwab ira tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 might let you get more out of it. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 like earning a bonus of up to $600 tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 in a schwab ira tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 and 150 commission-free online trades tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 plus our rollover consultants handle virtually tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 all the details tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 to help you focus on the bigger picture. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 so give us a call and get started today. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 see schwab.com/iraoffer for terms and conditions. your doctor will say get smart about your weight. i tried weight loss plans... but their shakes aren't always made for people with diabetes. that's why there's glucerna hunger smart shakes. they have carb steady, with carbs that digest slowly

to help minimize blood sugar spikes. and they have six grams of sugars. with fifteen grams of protein to help manage hunger... look who's getting smart about her weight. [ male announcer ] glucerna hunger smart. a smart way to help manage hunger and diabetes.

if you're planning to fly anywhere in the northeastern part of the united states, please call your airline. we just got word that 3,600 flights have already been canceled. these are pictures from new york, boston and maine planes

are already up in the air, but soon there won't be so many blue dots on the air. that's eastern time is when they're going to start canceling more flights. also if you're traveling on amtrak, amtrak will cancel all train travel north from new york city that will start in the middle of the afternoon around 1:00 eastern time. please keep that in mind. what happens when a wintery blast barrelling across the country meetses an east coast cold front? it's a monster blizzard. it's just beginning to unfold this hour across the northeast and it could be more than a day before it's all over. tori is tracking the storm from boston. >> reporter: the earlier you arrived at laguardia airport, the better the board said your flight was on time, rather than

canceled. >> i was really tired. i would rather get out on time and safely. >> passengers are lining up at northeast airport hoping to get out of town before a monster storm gets in. >> having it happen overnight friday into saturday is probably the best timing we could have. >> from new jersey to maine, thousands of pieces of equipment are standing by. >> we're really watching as the frigid cold temperature and the driving wind and the lightweight snow blowing right back on the the roadway. so we have a real prolonged flight. >> stay off the streets of our city. stay home. earlier it marked the 35th anniversary of the blizzard of 1978. forecasters say there are some similarities to the historic beast and what's brewing today. the outcome will not be as dramatic. it stalled for quite a while.

instead of stalling for two to three day, it may be more like 12 to 24 hours. >> there's been a run on supplies at hardware and grocery stores. >> we do have to prepare, incase we lose power. >> now with refrigerators stocked, everyone is being advised to go home, hunker down and ride this out.

[ male announcer ] want to make a great car interior? stop looking at car interiors. get inspired by other stuff. yep. yep. ok. sure. why not? woah. touchscreens. put that in your dash. now, luxury stuff. make your seats like that. that thing has wifi, why doesn't your car? you can't do that. ignore that guy. give it wifi. yes! make it fit 5 people. no, 5 actual sized people. give them leg room, good. destroy boring car interiors forever. and that's how you do it. easy. ♪

>> good. good morning. i'm carol costello. thank you for joining us. both cities in the entire northhe's are bracing for this major winter storm. it's going to be bad in some places, including new york city, flurries have already begun. more than 3,600 flights have already been canceled in the northeast. residents across the region are being told the stay off the

roads and stay home. we have word of a 19 car pileup in maine. we have snow, the threat of flooding and the impact of air travel. let's bring in meteorologist jennifer delgado to tell us when the blizzard is expecteded to hit in earnest. >> hi, carol. we're expecting conditions to get worse into the evening. that's when we're going to see the winds picking up and the snow blowing around. that includes new york as well as areas like boston and into providence. as we show you on the radar right now you can see where the snow is taking over in northern parts of new jersey as well as regions like connecticut and rhode island. the weather is going to deteriorate because we have two systems that are going to collide and this will provide the nor'easter, our weather explosion. snowfall totals around three feet in some location. this is going to give you an idea of the timing of the show. this is going to help you visualize the wind conditions

moving through. this is 4:00. notice they start to get a bit tighter. as we get later into the evening, that's when the winds will be picking up and it's going to change all over to snow from areas like new york into boston. some locations roughly three feet of snow. it doesn't move until 6:00 tomorrow night. and that means windy conditions through saturday. this gives you an idea where wre will see the heavy snowfall totals. and boston, we're expecting potentially three feet and must add in the snow drift ads well. now we talk more about the wind gusts happening. in some of the areas they'll be close to hurricane strength. notice the winds, 53, 52, well, this is going to be enough to take down some power lines in addition to the whiteout conditions, so that's the other part of the story. then when you add in the wind with the cold, you get the wind.

and this will be overnight into tomorrow morning. we're going to stop the clock at 7:00 a.m. it's saturday. it's an off day. look what it will feel like. minus 16 degrees. and providence and new york, it's going to be cold there. that's going to stay the same way through saturday. and with the other part of the winds we're talking about the storm surge and the the coastal flooding. anywhere all the the way down to newark, new jersey. we're going to be talking about areas affected that were damaged by superstorm sandy last year. so they certainly don't need to see something like this. of course, the blizzard warning in red. are you speechless? 70 miles per hour and then add in three feet of snow and add in the cold. just stay home. make et easy for officials. >> and try to stay warm. >> try to stay warm. doesn't matter if the heat is

on. thank you very much, jennifer delgado. let's check out to boston and check out with indra peterson. >> i am tempted to say the conditions are worsening. but i know better. this is not like what we'll see in the afternoon when the heavier bands move through. we are starting to get wet snow. it feels a lot colder. gusts now about 30, 35 miles per hour. speaking of visibility, once again we're going to continue to do this. let's show you the customs tower. a lot of times we talk about blizzards and visibilities less than a quarter mile. that tower is less than a quarter mile away. we can still see it. conditions not too bad. throughout the overnight hours we could see the vizability drop down to zero. so it's been a mild winter, right? what do they think about the storm? are they nervous?

the residents i talked to are not. 4,500 units of machinery ready to plow the streets. 1,000 national guard ready to go. another 5,000 are on standby and all of this is making everyone confident. now the airlines, already 3,500 have canceled the flights ahead of the storm. the heavier bands we know are overnight tonight into tomorrow. by the afternoon when it starts to kick out of here we have two to three feet of snow stacked up here next to me. you can see drifts over the head and the winds slowly blowing when the drifts get out of here. everyone will be hunkering down all weekend long. by noon today, a complete standstill. public transportation is closing down by 3:00 p.m. yes, it's going to be quiet,

that is if you're not talking about the wind. we're ready for it. >> and it's good that it's a weekend, too. right? that will make things easier for people. let's head to new york city. the snow has begun there, too. the salt trucks on the ready. alison kosik is there. she went to the grocery store, stocked up on supplies. got the last apple. you are ready. >> reporter: i'm ready. so are a lot of other people. i've been watching people walk in and out of this whole foods that's right over this way. people are getting prepared. they know how bad it can get, especially after hurricane sandy. right now we are getting the beginning of it. this is nothing. we can see the street out here. we can see the pavement. tags forward 24 hours for now. you're probably going to see this covered in snow with the forecast maps are right. right now it's a big slushy mess. seen a few umbrellas flip. that's about it because the wind is picking up. >> we got someone on the phone

we need to talk to, alison. i'm not completely paying attention to you, although normally i would. kevin ortiz is in charge of the long island railroad, the buses, the subway and new york city. are you ready? >> we are absolutely ready. we've already deployed a fleet of snow fighting and desising congresswomen that's designed to keep our outdoor tracks and switches and rails clear of snow and ice. >> so how do you do that? >> well, this is equipment that includes superpower snow blowers, jet powered snow blowers and desising. we deploy to keep switches and dirt rails cleared of snow. and after a while, once we start to see heavy accumulations we would make a determination as to whether or not we need to curtail service. >> how much snow needs to be on

the railroad tracks for you to say i have to stop the trains. >> essentially the long island railroad putting it anywhere between 10 to 13 inches. that's the height of the third rail. that's where you get safely running trains through that type of weather. we would make a determination as to whether or not we would have to curtail service on the roads. >> so for commuters, what are you suggesting they do? at what point do you say i'm going to get home because the trains will no longer be running. >> well, in terms of the subway we plan on running a normal schedule. we don't anticipate any issues with curving them on the subway. what they are doing is they are running additional trains early in the afternoon to accommodate customers who want to head home early in anticipation of the storm. we're urging our customers to take advantage of this added

service earlier in the day because the possible does exist that evening service wants the storm really hits may need do be curtailed as conditions warrant. >> so how happy are you that the storm is going to hit on a weekend? we typically see less ridership on the weekends and it also enables us to operate to get rails clear it turns out pretty well that this is going to hit on the weekend. >> kevin ortiz, i know you're busy. thanks for taking the time to talk with us. >> you're very welcome. >> we're going to take you to the airports in new york an boston and tell you what's up with that. nothing good. i can tell you that right now. all right that's a fifth-floor problem...

ok. not in my house! ha ha ha! ha ha ha! no no no! not today! ha ha ha! ha ha ha! jimmy how happy are folks who save hundreds of dollars switching to geico? happier than dikembe mutumbo blocking a shot. get happy. get geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more.

officewith an online package new colincluding: domain name,y! website builder with five pages and basic email just $49.99! that's up to 76 percent below online providers and only at officemax stores! then you're going to love this. right now they're only $14.95! wow-a grt deal just got a whole lot better. hurry. $14.95 won't last.

if you plan to fly anywhere in the northeast from new york up to maine you better call the airline ahead of time if you plan to travel today, tomorrow

or the next day because the airlines collectively have already canceled 3,600 flights and expect them to cancel more. let's head out to laguardia and check in with cnn's zain asher. good morning. >> reporter: hi, carol. and it's not just departing flights that are being canceled. anyone expecting friends or relatives to arrive in new york or the east coast today will be affected. just take a look behind me. the arrivals board on the left is pretty much virtually all yellow for the rest of the day. that's letting you know that almost all flights arriving at laguardia are going to be impacted, bringing the total number of canceleds all the way up to 3,600. we do expect the number to increase and now looking arn me at laguardia, it is relatively calm. not too much going on. my prediction is that pretty much later on this afternoon this airport will be virtually empty.

anyone planning to travel and anyone expecting relatives to arrive in new york should call the airline to find out what's going on. in terms of when things will resume back to normal, we do know that today and tomorrow at least things will be hectic. it's pretty much up to the individual carriers when they will resume flights. it's important to check with them as well. carol? >> so just sit in your home and watch the snowfall until sunday and then call the airline. and hopefully your plain will be taking off and you can head to the airport and everything will be fine. before you go, i want to ask you about train travel. a lot of people take the trains in the northeast corridor. >> and train travel is also heavily impacted, as i mentioned earlier. amtrak trains pretty much canceled. any amtrak train after 1:00 will be canceled for the rest of the day. the travelers will be impacted negatively by that as well. >> zain asher live from laguardia, thank you so much.

and today's monster blizzard is expected to deliver a whiteout. i talked earlier with weather observer brian fitzgerald. this is actually a typical situation for the wintertime up here. >> typical. give us tips. a lot of people in the northeast will be trying to survive over the next couple of days. >> i would say stay put, hang out. make sure you are well prepped at home. port smith, those areas, certainly you will want to make sure that you're ready for any sort of power outage. >> so two storms. two weather systems are going to collide. we heard jennifer talk a little bit about that. tell us how dangerous is when this sort of things happen. there's a ton of accumulation.

luckily this will be light powdery stuff. we're talking about snow and not ice. but in this situation when you get snow, very heavy stuff. it can weigh down on power lines and certainly roof too manies. how to drive in winter conditions and also the fact that you should stay off the road this evening. >> gooded a vins. brian fitzgerald, thanks so much. >> yeah, you're welcome. >> and we're just getting word if your kid lives if the northeast and is expecting to take the s.a.t. test saturday -- i'm sorry. the act test. forget about it. i'm just going to read off the states who have canceled the tests, connecticut, maine, new hampshire, rhode island, vermont and massachusetts. if your kid was expecting to take the act on saturday at any of those states, those tests have been canceled. we'll be back with a check of our top stories after this. mom always got good nutrition to taste great.

she was a picky eater. well now i'm her dietitian and last year, she wasn't eating so well. so i recommended boost complete nutritional drink to help her get the nutrition she was missing. and now she drinks it every day. well, it tastes great! [ male announcer ] boost has 26 essential vitamins and minerals, including calcium and vitamin d to support strong bones, and 10 grams of protein to help maintain muscle. and our great taste is guaranteed or your money back. learn more at boost.com [ dietitian ] now, nothing keeps mom from doing what she loves... being my mom.

47 minutes past the hour. time to check on our top stories. more on the winter storm headed to the northeast in just a minute. first, los angeles police are on the hunt for ex-cop christopher dorner. right now the search is focused on the california mountain town of big bear after a burned out

pickup truck belonging to the suspect was found on a road in the area. new picture this is morning of ethan, the little boy kidnapped and held in an underground bunker for six days. in the video ethan appears happy and healthy. two days after his release ethan celebrated his sixth birthday. wal-mart cuts gay-friendly funding after a meeting. he said he met with the company and wal-mart was now on the straight and narrow with the frc's value ls. cnn reached out to wal-mart, but we have not yet heard back. the secret service investigating the hacking of buck family e-mails. the unidentified hacker accessed e-mails, photos and personal information from both former presidents accounts.

and long lines at backsteks as drives stock up because in boston and in maine. let's bring in meteorologist jennifer delgado. >> hi, there. you're right. the snow is coming down. it's going to be coming from two different areas. one from the great lakes. another on top of the mid tlix. and this is providing all the rain out there schaking over to snow. once the two storms basically marry, well, we're going we're going to be talking about the snowstorm. blizzard conditions through parts of the northeast and new england. you can see the snow is working in. more of it is going to arrive later in the afternoon. as we take from you noon to 4:00 notice for new york city, you're going to see that all change over to snow. for boston, more snow for you. we have live shots coming out of boston. as well as in the joefr night

we're going to see the strongest winds. right now you're looking at fenway park. it's hard to tell when you get the snow moving and blowing around, that's what we call white-out conditions and it's only going to get worse. back over to the graphic. as we move to saturday, still talking about stroeng winds. the snow final finally departs in the evening. once it does depart we are talking about three feet of snow. anywhere you're seeing in purple, that's where we have the heavy snowfall. 50 to 70 miles per hour. winds strong enough to take down power lines. we're talking power outages out there. but blowing the snow around. that's why officials are saying do not get on the roadways. that's why we have the blizzard warning in place in the red and in the other part of the story, coastal flooding from areas from new jersey up to maine.

>> jennifer delgado, thanks so much. cliff cole is on the phone now from amtrak. welcome, cliff. >> caller: good afternoon. good morning, actually. day is running away from me. >> i know, you must be real i busy. how is amtrak preparing for the big storm? so we took up some conversation yesterday with the transportation and engineering people. the decision was made to cancel service north of new york city as of this afternoon. so while we're still running now on the express and regional service will come to a halt some time later today if people are leaving penn station. the schedule is to depart at 1:03 p.m. and if you're coming south out of boston. the last train would be at 1:15 and the regional at 1:40. the reason we're doing this is because of the storm that you've

been talking about with the large amounts of snow and the wind. we just don't want to get the trains to a spot where they may not be able to make it to their destinations. it's better to cancel the trains and wait for the storm to subside. >> yeah. it would not be fun to be stuck on the train in the middle of a snowy field. tell me do you actively try to keep snow from the tracks? or does that come after the the storm stops? >> that's part of the process. if we're talking about two or three feet of snow, it's going to be difficult to keep up with that. even up to a foot of snow, we can keep the tracks relatively clear. it's the ice and the wind that make things more problematic than the know itself. we have crews at the ready

should we get tree limbs on the overnight wires or the infrastructure to clear that up. >> so service could be interrupted after the weekend is over? we're going day by day. right now we have the service operational plan for today, friday. and we're going to look at tomorrow's schedule later on today and make that announcement. we're hoping to get this back as early as tomorrow. the storm still has to play the course and we have to see how it goes. we can't say for sure, but we're going to get it back as soon as we can. the good news is the service from new york south down to washington is not affected. so anybody traveling from new york to points point south can take their triples. >> all right. cliff. i know you have a long weekend ahead of you. thank you so much. >> sure. >> we'll be right back. i tried weight loss plans...

but their shakes aren't always made for people with diabetes. that's why there's glucerna hunger smart shakes. they have carb steady, with carbs that digest slowly to help minimize blood sugar spikes. and they have six grams of sugars. with fifteen grams of protein to help manage hunger... look who's getting smart about her weight. [ male announcer ] glucerna hunger smart. a smart way to help manage hunger and diabetes.

if live in boston, i'm sure you know the schools are closed. the subway is set to shut down in preparation for the big storm headed your way. cnn meteorologist indra peterson is in boston. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. yes, we're starting to get that wet snow. not really sticking to the ground and we're just starting to pick up on that.

let's talk about how that is expected to happen. if you remember the thunderstorms, that started to go up all the way in the midatlantic. that's combining with the arctic air that is bringing snow to the great lakes in the ohio valley. this is expected to bring snowfall rates of two to three inches per hour. what about the timing of this? okay, in boston throughout the late afternoon, we're going to start to see the heavier bands between 2:00 to 5:00 p.m. then overnight we would have gotten the heaviest snowfall rates out there. winds as high as 50, 60, 70 miles per hour. we'll be standing here with you for it. >> you'll probably be buried. stay safe. indra peterson, thank you so much. cnn "newsroom" wiafter the brea.

i'm serious, we compare our direct rates side by side to find you a great deal, even if it's not with us. [ ding ] oh, that's helpful! well, our company does that, too. actually, we invented that. it's like a sauna in here. helping you save, even if it's not with us -- now, that's progressive! call or click today. no mas pantalones!